Nargis Fakhri and Imtiaz Ali worked together for Rockstar.
Nargis Fakhri also didn’t know who ‘dorky’ Ranbir Kapoor was, but thinks working with him was a blessing.
Actor Nargis Fakhri, best known for her performance in the 2011 film Rockstar, recently shared that she had never met director Imtiaz Ali and co-star Ranbir Kapoor earlier. The New Yorker revealed how she was surprisingly cast in the Indian film, after meeting Imtiaz in Prague. She also said that she didn’t know who Ranbir Kapoor was before they worked together on the hit film.
In an interview with Mashable Middle East, Nargis said that she had shot a jewellery advertisement which ended up on Indian billboards, without her knowledge. Someone from Imtiaz’s team then reached out to her, not knowing that the model was not based in India. However, they insisted that she meet the director on his trip to Prague.
Nargis said, “She told me, ‘The director will be in Prague, and he’d still like to meet you.’ I was like, ‘Oh, what the hell, let me go meet this person. If he’s weird I’ll kick him in the balls and I’ll run’. I had my New York out. I’m not afraid, I’m ready to fight people. You learn that when you’re six, in the hood.”
“I go, and this strange man with big curly hair, very nice, good aura. So obviously, my instinct kicks in to judge the character. Good person, very nice, felt safe, told me the most beautiful story I’ve ever heard in my life. I literally saw the whole movie in my head when he was telling me the story,” she added.
Nargis continued, “And he said, ‘If you come to India, we can help teach you the language’. I said ‘I don’t know’, because obviously that’s a huge thing to do, I don’t know anybody, I don’t know what I’ll do there. But after a couple of weeks, they asked again, and I said okay fine, I’ll just go and try. You only live once in life, you have to take a chance.”
Nargis also talked about working with Ranbir Kapoor, “Obviously, working with Ranbir was a blessing, in hindsight. But, at the time, I didn’t know who he was. I was like, ‘Who’s this dorky guy?’ But he’s very cool, and it was so much fun to work with so many people. But I had no idea who they were, which is probably great. Because I just enjoyed them for who they are. I wasn’t nervous, because I didn’t know who they were, and when you don’t know, you don’t care.”
Rockstar was a big hit and still remains a fan favourite. The film also starred Aditi Rao Hydari, Piyush Mishra and Kumud Mishra.
